In Belgian showdown, Merlier masterfully overtakes Philipsen, Waerenskjold clinches the overall victory

The Baloise Belgium Tour ended - just like last season - in the Belgian capital of Brussels. This stage usually ends up in a sprint and the expectation was that it would be no different this year, especially with guys like Philipsen, Merlier, Jakobsen and Kooij at the start. But before we got that far, of course, there was a breakaway first. Stijn Appel, Dries De Bondt, Kay De Bruyckere, Cyril Desal, Olivier Godfroid, Sebastien Grignard, Tristan Scherpenbergh, Mauro Verwilt and Thimo Willems made up the tête de la course in and around the Belgian capital.

De Bondt and his cohorts, dubbed as such, managed a maximum lead of two minutes. The intense pace in the breakaway saw De Bruyckere and Verwilt fall back, leaving seven leaders. The peloton, meanwhile, maintained a tight control.

A crash involving Kooij in the final three kilometers added drama, but Merlier impressively overtook Philipsen in the sprint. As the anticipated Golden Kilometer approached—located about fifty kilometers from the finish—the lead of the breakaway diminished rapidly. The sprint bonuses went to Waerenskjold, Alec Segaert (Lotto-Dstny), and Sander De Pestel (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), bolstering Waerenskjold’s lead and nearly securing his overall win.

As the well-known Golden Kilometer approached—located about fifty kilometers from the finish—the lead of the breakaway group quickly diminished. The gap between overall leader Waerenskjold and runner-up Vacek was just two seconds before the start of the stage, so considerable tension was expected (provided the breakaway was caught on time).

The breakaway was caught just in time as the Golden Kilometer was nearly upon them. The first sprint (read: three seconds) was won by Waerenskjold, the second went to Alec Segaert (Lotto-Dstny), and the third to Sander De Pestel (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale). This was good news for the yellow-clad Norwegian, who almost couldn't miss out on the overall victory now.

Yet, would there still be a surprise to shake things up? It didn't seem likely. The peloton raced hard towards a sprint, and then things got very tense. This resulted in a crash for Olav Kooij. The Visma | Lease a Bike rider went down along with Mick van Dijke. Alpecin-Deceuninck then took control with Robbe Ghys who set up the sprint well. Philipsen was given a clear run, but was simply outclassed by Tim Merlier. The sprinter from Soudal Quick-Step timed it perfectly and surged past in the final hundred meters.